THE STANDING SENATE COMMITTEE ON NATIONAL FINANCE

MINUTES OF PROCEEDINGS

OTTAWA, Wednesday, March 2, 2022
(6)

[English]

Pursuant to the order of the Senate of November 25, 2021, the Standing Senate Committee on National Finance met this day in room B45, Senate of Canada Building, and with videoconference at 12:51 p.m. ET, the deputy chair, the Honourable Éric Forest, presiding.

Members of the committee present: The Honourable Senators Boehm, Dagenais, Duncan and Pate (4).

Members of the committee present by videoconference: The Honourable Senators Forest, Galvez, Gerba, Gignac, Loffreda, Marshall, Moncion and Richards (8).

Participating in the meeting: Kalina Waltos, Procedural Clerk, Sara Gajic, Legislative Clerk, and Annie Trudel, Administrative Assistant, Committees Directorate; Shaowei Pu, Analyst, Library of Parliament.

Pursuant to the order of reference adopted by the Senate on Tuesday, March 1, 2022, the committee began its examination of the Supplementary Estimates (C) for the fiscal year ending March 31, 2022.

WITNESSES (by videoconference):

Office of the Parliamentary Budget Officer:

Yves Giroux, Parliamentary Budget Officer;

Jill Giswold, Analyst;

Kaitlyn Vanderwees, Analyst.

Health Canada:

Serena Francis, Assistant Deputy Minister and Chief Financial Officer;

Cameron MacDonald, Assistant Deputy Minister, Strategy, Integration and Data, COVID-19 Testing Secretariat;

Manon Bombardier, Assistant Deputy Minister, Pest Management Regulatory Agency, Transformation;

Lynne Tomson, Associate Assistant Deputy Minister, Strategic Policy Branch.

Public Health Agency of Canada:

Martin Krumins, Vice-President and Chief Financial Officer, Corporate Management Branch;

Cindy Evans, Vice-President, Emergency Management Branch;

Brigitte Diogo, Vice-President, Health Sciences and Regional Operations Branch;

Dr. Guillaume Poliquin, Vice-President, National Microbiology Laboratory;

Candice St-Aubin, Vice-President, Health Promotion and Chronic Disease Prevention Branch;

Stephen Bent, Acting Vice President, COVID-19 Vaccine Rollout.

Yves Giroux made a statement and, together with Jill Giswold and Kaitlyn Vanderwees, answered questions.

At 1:45 p.m., the committee suspended.

At 2:17 p.m., the committee resumed.

Serena Francis and Martin Krumins each made a statement and, together with Cameron MacDonald, Candice St-Aubin, Stephen Bent, Lynne Tomson and Manon Bombardier, answered questions.

At 3:28 p.m., the committee adjourned to the call of the chair.

ATTEST:

Mireille K. Aubé

Clerk of the Committee